At 15:27 -0400 9/23/04, Adam Stein wrote:
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>I've been looking for an open source FrameMaker replacement (as my group is
>switching from Solaris to Linux, FrameMaker isn't available for Linux, and
>FrameMaker is the only commercial program I still use, now seemed like a good
>time to finally replace it with open source).
>
>The three choices I see are OpenOffice, Kword, and Scribus.
As a disclaimer, I have not used Framemaker for 6 years and I am relatively new
to DTP
and Scribus.
Before I stopped using Framemaker, however, I used it extensively at work for
technical
documentation. I have not found anything that quite compares to its power and
ease of
use for writing. Once a document template is set up with styles, it is very
easy to
create a document quickly. Figures can be placed just where you want them
easily as well and
chapters can easily be packaged in a book.
Framemaker, in my view, is a hybrid between word processing and desktop
publishing. It did
not have all the bells and whistles of a word processing program (or at least I
didn't use many
of them) but it was easy to compose your text on the fly. It allowed you
greater control over
placement of figures and diagrams than a word processor, but did not require
the precise
control of every detail a DTP program requires.
After leaving the workforce, I very much missed Framemaker. Had its price not
been prohibitive,
I would have chosen it over any of the standard word processors available to
me.
Alas, I cannot suggest an exact replacement for Framemaker. I wish you luck
in your quest.
Carol
--
===============================================================
Carol Kankelborg | A relativist age debunks authority
and puts
cckborg1 at kankelborg.net |nothing in its place as an organizing
principle
| of society. -- Henry
Kissinger
